Hobie Cat Forums

Hey All,

I was fussing around with Miss Tiger today in my driveway and I notice a bunch of slop in the dolphin striker assembly. Keep in mind its mast down, on a trailer, but still, my 16 dolphin striker was alway tight, even unrigged. Should I tighten it up? Im racing next weekend, so as soon as the rig is tensioned, Ill be able to see if its still sloppy or does it snug up under rig tension.

If I do need to tension it a bit more, it looks like I just loosen the nuts below the mast step ball, and the ones below the crossbar and just send a bit more post down low, then snug em all up good.

Thanks in advance!

_________________
Blair T

I love these calm moments before the storm, it reminds me of Beethoven...


'02 Hobie Tiger USA 1152

Come on, somebodys gotta have some Tiger wisdom for me!

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Blair T

I love these calm moments before the storm, it reminds me of Beethoven...


'02 Hobie Tiger USA 1152

I guess with big holiday weekend all the gurus are out sailing?

All I know is that on my "cheap" Hobies the DS is always tight... PING!

I just checked mine (sitting on driveway with mast down at the moment) and the dolphin striker is not sloppy, but doesn't seem really tight either. I'm new to Tiger sailing as of the end of last season so I may not be a great reference, but that's how the previous owner had it set up.

Cheers,
Jeff

I would say tighten it up for sure. A loose dolphin striker means your front crossbar is bending under load. You can make minor adjustments using the nuts on the top and bottom of the crossbar, but you have to make sure you leave clearance for the mast base. Also, if you've sailed in salt water, it's highly likely that the compression sleeve is frozen to the striker post which means the only way to adjust the dolphin striker is to tighten the nuts on the ends of the striker rod (V-bar) at the ends of the crossbar.

sm

I have a little slop in mine maybe an 18th of an inch.

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Rich Vilvens
F-18 5150
R.Vilvens@yahoo.com
http://www.sailblogs.com/member/f-185150sailing/

What the heck is an 18th?

I put an 1/8" of pre-bend in my cross bar.

1/8 sorry Karl. What about the experts what is the recommended setting?

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Rich Vilvens
F-18 5150
R.Vilvens@yahoo.com
http://www.sailblogs.com/member/f-185150sailing/

Mine also has a small amount of slop.

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skennedy
2003 Tiger
2000 Wave

I snugged it up, so now I can sleep at night!

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Blair T

I love these calm moments before the storm, it reminds me of Beethoven...


'02 Hobie Tiger USA 1152

Hi I had the fortunate experience of mmeeting one of the F18 Gurus at texel this year, Mischka Hemskerk whilst laoding up the baots, he advised me to prebend the beam by 10 mm.

you should be able to see the bend on the beam

apparently sailing with a loose striker is sailing with a brake on side ways movement not forward.

I hear the guys are now adding 15 mm of prebend to the beam.

That's the maximum curvature in the beams allowed by F18 class rules.

I was just about to post the same thing! One of my friends is a Hobie dealer and friends with Mischa who just told him to add 12mm prebend (up) to the front crossbar. I'm doing it the next time my mast is down. Stiff boat = fast boat!!

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Blair T

I love these calm moments before the storm, it reminds me of Beethoven...


'02 Hobie Tiger USA 1152

This happened to mine I found out when I was replacing a bent step rod that sleeve was corroded to the point of no return had to cut the rod to remove it. Now the new one is installed how can I measure the prebend everyone is talking about?

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Floyd
00 Tiger
http://www.HobieFleet33.com
10 Mile Surfside, Texas
Join us on our Facebook group: Surfside Sailing

To check the prebend, you could put something on each end of the crossbar that was the amount of bend you wanted, like a shim or something, then run a piece of string from end to end over the shims. Once it hits in the middle, there's your prebend!

I tried tightening my striker on my 2002 Tiger and I'm a little worried about fatigue, so I'm probably only going to shoot for 5mm of bend. I'd rather have it a little less stiff and a lot less busted!

_________________
Blair T

I love these calm moments before the storm, it reminds me of Beethoven...


'02 Hobie Tiger USA 1152